New Jersey payroll setup for your first hire

One form. NJ-REG is not a payroll login.

New Jersey takes state income tax from paychecks. That tax is Gross Income Tax. The Division of Taxation collects it. NJ DOL collects unemployment contributions. That tax is often called SUTA, state unemployment tax, or SUI, state unemployment insurance. You open those two accounts on one file.

Business.NJ.gov sends that file to DORES. The form is NJ-REG. The live online file is the Online Tax/Employer Registration. NJ DOL’s employer page says the same first step. A later login on NJ Taxation Online is not the registration. A payroll login is not the registration either.

When you owe unemployment: $1,000 in a calendar year

NJ DOL’s page is enough by itself for a regular shop. You are an employer once you employ one or more people and pay wages of $1,000 or more in a calendar year. N.J.S.A. 43:21-19(h) is the same test. The statute counts the current year or the preceding year.

This is not California’s $100-in-a-quarter test. It is not Illinois’s $1,500-in-a-quarter test. It is not Pennsylvania’s one-worker clock. Do not copy California onto New Jersey. Do not copy a two-portal start-up onto New Jersey either. Some states open withholding and unemployment on two sites. New Jersey uses one NJ-REG.

Other tests sit on that page and in the Employer Accounts Guide. If you buy a shop that is already subject, you become subject at once. If you are subject to the Federal Unemployment Tax Act, you are subject in New Jersey unless the work is left out of New Jersey law. Agricultural shops can use a $20,000-quarter test, or ten workers in 20 weeks. This scorecard is the regular-business path.

File NJ-REG when you hire, or when you expect to hire

NJ DOL decides liability from the facts you send. The Employer Accounts Guide says you should tell DORES if you employ, or expect to employ, one or more people. Once you decide you are an employer, register online. There is no 15-day California clock on that page. File NJ-REG when you hire, or when you expect to hire. The $1,000 calendar-year test is when unemployment contributions start. The quarterly reports follow that liability.

After DORES accepts NJ-REG, hold the New Jersey Taxpayer Identification Number. It is your federal EIN plus a three-digit suffix. A welcome letter also prints a PIN. Use that number on reports and payments. Do not substitute a federal EIN alone. Use the unemployment rate on the NJ DOL notice, not a number from a software page.

Then file two quarterly papers. The Employer Report of Wages Paid (WR-30) lists wages. The Employer’s Quarterly Report (NJ-927) pays unemployment, Workforce Development, Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI), and Family Leave Insurance (FLI). The Division of Taxation says both are due on or before the 30th day of the month after the quarter. A quarterly wage report is not the new-hire report.

Register withholding on the same NJ-REG. File on NJ Taxation Online.

New Jersey withholds Gross Income Tax from paychecks. NJ-WT, the Gross Income Tax Instruction Booklet, says you must register, file, and pay if you employ New Jersey residents who work in New Jersey. Most pay for work in New Jersey is subject to withholding, whether the worker lives here or not. Register on NJ-REG. If the business is already registered and you are only adding employees, update that same online file.

After you register, the Division of Taxation mails a welcome letter with the Taxpayer Identification Number and the PIN. File on NJ Taxation Online, the GIT withholding login. Collect the Employee’s Withholding Certificate (NJ-W4) from each worker. If tax due for the first or second month of a quarter is $500 or more, send the Monthly Remittance of Gross Income Tax Withheld (NJ-500) by the 15th of the next month. File NJ-927 by the 30th after the quarter. File the Annual Reconciliation of Gross Income Tax Withheld (NJ-W-3) by February 15. A GIT login is not a workplace-injury policy.

New hire is a 20-day report. A WR-30 does not satisfy it.

The new-hire report is a list of who you just hired. It is not a box on the quarterly wage report. N.J.S.A. 2A:17-56.61 requires the report within 20 days of the hiring, rehiring, or return to work. The New Jersey Child Support Employer Services Portal restates that clock. Report people who reside or work in New Jersey and who you expect to pay. Report them even if they work one day. State law also requires an independent contractor who transacts business in New Jersey.

File at that portal. Employers who send reports electronically send two monthly files, 12 to 16 days apart, when they have people to report. A quarterly WR-30 does not satisfy that clock.

Workplace injury insurance starts with the first worker

This is a first-hire policy for a regular shop. It is not Georgia’s three-employee wait. It is not Florida’s four-employee wait.

The Division of Workers’ Compensation is the agency rule. New Jersey law requires every New Jersey employer not covered by a federal program to carry workers’ compensation or to be approved for self-insurance. That page splits the first-worker test by business form. A corporation needs coverage when one or more people, including officers, perform services for pay. A partnership or LLC needs coverage when one or more people other than the partners or members perform services for pay. A sole proprietorship needs coverage when anyone other than the owner performs services for pay. N.J.S.A. 34:15-71 and N.J.S.A. 34:15-79 require the insurance and set the penalty for going bare. The employer guide repeats the first-worker rule.

The Division of Workers’ Compensation does not sell insurance. New Jersey has no state fund. Buy a policy from a licensed private carrier, or apply to self-insure. If you cannot buy a policy in the ordinary market, NJCRIB runs the assigned-risk plan. NJCRIB does not write the policy. Ordinary first-hire shops do not self-insure. A payroll login is not a policy.

How Gusto and Patriot describe New Jersey

Confirm the live Taxpayer Identification Number on NJ Taxation Online. Confirm the unemployment rate on the NJ DOL notice. Confirm workplace injury insurance with a carrier or on NJCRIB’s assigned-risk page.

Gusto’s New Jersey help article says you must register the business with DORES yourself before Middesk (Gusto’s business-verification company) may register state income-tax withholding and state unemployment insurance (SUI). Confirm the live number on NJ Taxation Online. Confirm the rate on the NJ DOL notice. Gusto’s forms list names the Employer Report of Wages Paid (WR-30), the Employer’s Quarterly Report (NJ-927), the Annual Reconciliation of Gross Income Tax Withheld (NJ-W-3), and a New Jersey new-hire report. The same list says the Combined Assessment Bill sits on you. That bill is NJ DOL’s annual assessment. It is not the quarterly WR-30 or NJ-927. Read Gusto’s New Jersey article and Gusto’s forms list. See Gusto on the directory.

Patriot’s tax table says Full Service files New Jersey Unemployment Insurance (SUI or SUTA) on Form NJ-927 and Form WR-30. It also files Temporary Disability Insurance and Family Leave Insurance on those same quarterly forms. It files Gross Income Tax withholding on Form NJ-500 and Form NJ-W-3. Patriot’s registration article tells you to open those accounts on the New Jersey Online Business Filing and Registration Service. It does not claim Patriot opens those accounts. The article prints a 2.8 percent new-employer SUTA rate. Use the rate on your NJ DOL notice, not a number from a software page. The same article says workplace injury insurance is due at one employee through a private provider or a state-operated fund. The Division of Workers’ Compensation says New Jersey has no state fund. NJCRIB does not write insurance. Read Patriot’s article and Patriot’s registration article. See Patriot on the directory.

What still sits on the employer

• Decide that the $1,000 calendar-year test has been met. Household and agricultural shops use other tests.
• File NJ-REG, or update the online file, when you hire or expect to hire so DORES and NJ DOL can open withholding and unemployment.
• Hold the New Jersey Taxpayer Identification Number and PIN. Do not substitute a federal EIN alone.
• Enter the unemployment rate from the NJ DOL notice, not a marketing figure.
• File WR-30 and NJ-927 by the 30th day after each quarter. Pay Temporary Disability Insurance and Family Leave Insurance on that same quarterly report.
• Collect NJ-W4. File NJ-500 when a month hits $500. File the annual NJ-W-3 by February 15.
• File the New Jersey new-hire report within 20 days of hire or rehire. Independent contractors who transact business in New Jersey belong on that report. A quarterly WR-30 does not satisfy that clock.
• Buy workplace injury insurance when the first worker starts. Corporate officers count. Partners, LLC members, and a sole owner do not count as that first worker. Payroll software does not issue that policy.
• Do not copy another state’s clock onto New Jersey. New Jersey uses one NJ-REG. New Jersey does not use California’s $100-quarter test. New Jersey does not wait for Georgia’s three-employee workplace-injury rule.

Related guide: Can I do my own payroll? covers the federal payday that sits next to Form NJ-927.

Related guide: Independent contractor vs employee is the federal label check. A New Jersey new-hire line for contractors is not that test.

Also forming a company in New Jersey? Process Score compares registered agents there.